MALAY SKETCHES
refuge would be found in those inhospitable depths, the Pěnglima and his little band lay close in their concealment and longed for sheltering night.
All day long the Shabandar's boats passed hither and thither, and with the nightfall many appeared to abandon the search and returned on the rising tide.
Then an hour or two of the new-born moon, and after that thick darkness.
The Pěnglima and his friends had regained their boat, and as, about midnight, the tide began to ebb, the vessel was pushed noiselessly out into the river and bracing themselves for a final effort the rowers gripped their oars, stiffened their backs and put their whole strength into the work before them.
The river as it approaches the sea grows wider at every bend, the searchers were exhausted and asleep, or had already returned up-stream, the night was dark and the fugitives were unmolested until, between 4 A.M. and 5 A.M., in the last reach, they saw a line of boats guarding the river's mouth.
There were wide intervals between each vessel, but even in that uncertain light it was impossible for a boat to run this blockade without being seen.
At this final juncture the Pĕnglima's Familiar did not desert him.
Of course the earth ought to have opened and
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